Tyrannosaurs of Canada’s Formations

[dinosaur man]

Hi I decided to make this since the new Tyrannosaur from Alberta’s Foremost Formation, Thanatotheristes deerootorum has

just been named and described. Enjoy!!

 

Tyrannosaur bearing Formations in Canada:

 

Formations in Alberta but most of the Formations on my list are I Alberta anyway.

 

Horseshoe Canyon Formation 74-68 million years ago, Alberta: Albertosaurus sarcophagus, possibly Daspletosaurus sp. but no compelling evidence so far.

 

Oldman Formation 78.2-77 million years ago, Alberta: Daspletosaurus torosus, Gorgosaurus sp.

 

Foremost Formation 80.5-78.2 million years ago, Alberta: Thanatotheristes deerootorum, possibly Gorgosaurus sp.

 

Milk River Formation 84.5-83.4 million years ago, Alberta: Tyrannosaur. indet could be a species of Thanatotheristes, possibly Gorgosaurus sp.

 

Scollard Formation 68-66 million years ago, Alberta: T. rex, possibly Nanotyrannus 

 

Formations in British Columbia:

 

Wapiti Formation 76.8-70 million years ago, Alberta, British Columbia: Unknown Albertosaurinae either Gorgosaurus or Albertosaurus, possibly Daspletosaurus sp. 

 

Tumbler Ridge 135-74 million years ago, British Columbia: Tyrannosaur. indet

 

Formations in Saskatchewan and Manitoba:

 

Dinosaur Park Formation 77-75.5 million years ago, Alberta, Saskatchewan: Daspletosaurus sp., Gorgosaurus libratus

 

Frenchmen Formation, 68-66 million years ago, Saskatchewan: T. rex, possibly Nanotyrannus

 

Bearpaw Formation 75-72 million years ago, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba: Daspletosaurus sp. one specimen from Daspletosaurus sp. that drowned.

 

For now these are all the Tyrannosaurs known from Canada. No Eastern Tyrannosaurs in Canada yet either but maybe someday. I will also update this and add as more information comes available.

[Troodon]

On 1/26/2020 at 2:06 PM, dinosaur man said:

Hi I decided to make this since the new Tyrannosaur from Alberta’s Foremost Formation, Thanatotheristes deerootorum has

just been named and described. Enjoy!!

 

Tyrannosaur bearing Formations in Canada:

 

Dinosaur Park Formation 77-75.5 million years ago, Alberta, Saskatchewan: Daspletosaurus sp., Gorgosaurus libratus

 

Horseshoe Canyon Formation 74-68 million years ago, Alberta: Albertosaurus sarcophagus, possibly Daspletosaurus sp.  NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE OF DASPLETOSAURUS AND THAT IT COEXISTED WITH ALBERTOSAURUS 

 

Oldman Formation 78.2-77 million years ago, Alberta: Daspletosaurus torosus, Gorgosaurus sp.

 

Foremost Formation 80.5-78.2 million years ago, Alberta: Thanatotheristes deerootorum, POSSIBLY GOROSAURUS SP.

 

Milk River Formation 84.5-83.4 million years ago, Alberta: Tyrannosaur. indet could be a species of Thanatotheristes. POSSIBLY GORGOSAURUS SP.

 

Wapiti Formation 76.8-70 million years ago, Alberta, British Columbia: Gorgosaurus sp., possibly Daspletosaurus sp. and Albertosaurus sp.  NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE THAT THESE THREE TYRANNOSAURID COEXISTENCED

 

Tumbler Ridge 135-74 million years ago, British Columbia: Tyrannosaur. indet

 

Scollard Formation 68-65 million years ago, Alberta: T. rex, possibly Nanotyrannus END OF CRETACEOUS 66 MYA NOT 65

 

Frenchmen Formation, 68-65 million years ago, Saskatchewan: T. rex, possibly Nanotyrannus

 

Bearpaw Formation 75-72 million years ago, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba: Daspletosaurus sp. one specimen from Daspletosaurus sp. that drowned.

 

For now these are all the Tyrannosaurs known from Canada. No Eastern Tyrannosaurs in Canada yet either but maybe someday. I will also update this and add as more information comes available.

Nice chart see my comments 

[dinosaur man]

2 hours ago, Troodon said:

Nice chart see my comments 

Thank you @Troodon!! I put it together from the current Knowledge on Tyrannosaurs so far. Also yes I seen your comments very Helpful!!

[Kane]

To increase this list's utility, you may wish to place them in some kind of order (alphabetical, or by province, formation, species, age). One method for achieving this and have it searchable by any of those criteria would be to create an Excel spreadsheet. 

[Norki]

Small nitpick, but it's the Frenchman formation, not Frenchmen.

 

Nice useful list though.

[grandpa]

Thank you for putting this together DinoMan.  It should prove very useful as I study the subject further.

[dinosaur man]

6 hours ago, Norki said:

Small nitpick, but it's the Frenchman formation, not Frenchmen.

 

Nice useful list though.

 Thank you!!

 

5 hours ago, grandpa said:

Thank you for putting this together DinoMan.  It should prove very useful as I study the subject further.

Your Welcome and Thank you!!

[Omnomosaurus]

Nice work @dinosaur man. A very useful list for keeping track of all these darn North American Tyrannosaurs!

 

Only suggestion I'd make, is to swap around the order of the formations by age (ascending or descending works just as well), just to make it easier to scan through if you're looking for something in particular.

[dinosaur man]

I decided to Add another part to this Tyrannosaurs and Tyrannosaur Formations list.

 

Presenting Tyrannosaurs of the United States:

 

Judith River Formation 80-75 million years ago, Montana: Daspletosaurus sp., Gorgosaurus sp. and possibly another species of Daspletosaurus sp. from lower in the Formation.

 

Two Medicine Formation 83-75 million years ago, Montana: Daspletosaurus honeri, Gorgosaurus sp.

 

Hell Creek Formation 68-66 million years ago, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota: T. rex, Nanotyrannus 

 

Lance Formation 68-66 million years ago, Wyoming: T. rex, Nanotyrannus

 

Prince Creek Formation 80-60 million years ago, Alaska: 

Nanuqsaurus hoglundi

 

Kirtland Formation 75-73 million years ago, New Mexico: Bistahieversor sealeyi 

 

Fruitland Formation 75.5-74.5 million years ago, New Mexico, Colorado: Bistahieversor sealeyi

 

Kaiparowits Formation 76.5-74.5 million years ago, Utah: Teratophoneus curriei 

 

Wahweap Formation 81-76 million years ago, Utah, Arizona: Lythronax argestes

 

Menefee Formation 84-78.5 million years ago, New Mexico: Dynamoterror dynastes

 

Aguja Formation 80.5-72 million years ago, Texas: Tyrannosaur. indet

 

Javelina Formation 70-66 million years ago, Texas: Possibly T. rex and could be Nanotyrannus.

 

Hornerstown Formation 70-66 million years ago, New Jersey: Dryptosaurus aquilunguis

 

Navesink Formation 70-66 million years ago, New Jersey: Dryptosaurus aquilunguis 

 

Demopolis Chalk Formation 80-77 million years ago, Alabama: Appalachiosaurus montgomeriensis

 

Moreno Hill Formation 93-89 million years ago, New Mexico: Suskityrannus hazelae

 

Cedar Mountain Formation 100-96 million years ago, Utah: Moros intrepidus

 

Morrison Formation 156.5-146.5 million years ago, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wyoming: 

Stokesosaurus clevelandi

 

For now these are all the Tyrannosaurs from the United States so far. Also i will possibly add other Continents, Tyrannosaurs and there Formations later. And can anyone help me? How do you edit after the edit button disappears? Thank you!! 

 

 

[PaleoNoel]

If this is tyrannosauroids (i'm guessing it is since you included dryptosaurus) then there's Appalachiosaurus montgomeriensis from the ~77 Ma Demopolis Chalk fm. of Alabama, Suskityrannus hazelae from the Moreno Hill fm. in New Mexico ~93-89 myo, Moros intrepidus from the Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain fm. in Utah ~96 Ma and Stokesosaurus clevelandi from the Morrison fm. ~150 Ma. There's also an unnamed species of Tyrannosaur from the Aguja fm. in Texas and T. Rex is also likely present in later Javelina fm. in the same state.

[dinosaur man]

33 minutes ago, PaleoNoel said:

If this is tyrannosauroids (i'm guessing it is since you included dryptosaurus) then there's Appalachiosaurus montgomeriensis from the ~77 Ma Demopolis Chalk fm. of Alabama, Suskityrannus hazelae from the Moreno Hill fm. in New Mexico ~93-89 myo, Moros intrepidus from the Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain fm. in Utah ~96 Ma and Stokesosaurus clevelandi from the Morrison fm. ~150 Ma. There's also an unnamed species of Tyrannosaur from the Aguja fm. in Texas and T. Rex is also likely present in later Javelina fm. in the same state.

Thank you just added them!!

[PaleoNoel]

2 minutes ago, dinosaur man said:

Thank you just added them!!

[dinosaur man]

UPDATE: CANADA’S TYRANNOSAURS SECTION

 

“Tumbler Ridge 135-74 million years ago, British Columbia: Tyrannosaur. indet”

 

Well i just found this, a reconstruction of this Tyrannosaurs skull by the The Peace Region Palaeontology Research Centre. It looks very similar to the Dinosaur Park Formation Daspletosaurus sp., the specimen below and other specimens. So the Tumbler Ridge Tyrannosaur could be Daspletosaurus sp. or Daspletosaurus. 

 

 

[JohnJ]

3 hours ago, dinosaur man said:

UPDATE: CANADA’S TYRANNOSAURS SECTION

 

“Tumbler Ridge 135-74 million years ago, British Columbia: Tyrannosaur. indet”

 

Well i just found this, a reconstruction of this Tyrannosaurs skull by the The Peace Region Palaeontology Research Centre. It looks very similar to the Dinosaur Park Formation Daspletosaurus sp., the specimen below and other specimens. So the Tumbler Ridge Tyrannosaur could be Daspletosaurus sp. or Daspletosaurus. 

 

  

 

I'm certainly no dinosaur expert, but the illustration above and the image below have many structural differences.

[dinosaur man]

Here’s another one that looks similar to the top. I also found a skull of this Daspletosaurus sp. Which looked almost exactly like the above skull but don’t have a good picture. For some reason I see similarities between the two animals.

[gigantoraptor]

I don't think you can identify Tyrannosaur skull pieces by sketches. There are quite some Tyrannosaurs known from the same age as this specimen and most of them have very similar skulls. 

 

11 hours ago, dinosaur man said:

So the Tumbler Ridge Tyrannosaur could be Daspletosaurus sp. or Daspletosaurus. 

 

What do you mean with this? I always assumed that the sp. stand for 'a not determined species within the genus'. Is there a difference between Daspletosaurus and Daspletosaurus sp.

[dinosaur man]

@gigantoraptor I was referring to a specific Daspletosaurus sp.

[dinosaur man]

“There are quite some Tyrannosaurs known from the same age as this specimen and most of them have very similar skulls.“ 

 

@gigantoraptor I know but the skull elements from this Tyrannosaur show similarities to Daspletosaurus. And in Canada at the time there was only one Daspletosaurus since Daspletosaurus horneri is from Montana along with the Judith Daspletosaurus. And there have been no Daspletosaurus torosus remains this late in the Campanian. So my guess was Canada’s/Alberta, Saskatchewan’s Daspletosaurus sp. I just seem to think they look very similar. 

[CBchiefski]

 

 

 

 

On 2/10/2020 at 3:31 PM, dinosaur man said:

 

  So the Tumbler Ridge Tyrannosaur could be Daspletosaurus sp. or Daspletosaurus. 

 

1 hour ago, dinosaur man said:

“There are quite some Tyrannosaurs known from the same age as this specimen and most of them have very similar skulls.“ 

 

@gigantoraptor I know but the skull elements from this Tyrannosaur show similarities to Daspletosaurus. And in Canada at the time there was only one Daspletosaurus since Daspletosaurus horneri is from Montana along with the Judith Daspletosaurus. And there have been no Daspletosaurus torosus remains this late in the Campanian. So my guess was Canada’s/Alberta, Saskatchewan’s Daspletosaurus sp. I just seem to think they look very similar. 

Howdy @dinosaur man I like what you are doing and hopefully my comments are useful. Since you have several different ongoing threads, this post will cover a few of your other comments as well.
 It would be more informative to then say Daspletosaurus Spp. rather than sp. sadly there is often a lack of clarity, in simple terms Genus Sp. indicates one species which is unknown or cannot be narrowed down past the genus level. Saying Genus Spp. indicates multiple unknown species that are distinct from each other but cannot be narrowed down past the genus level. Be aware, in stating Daspletosaurus Sp. or Spp. you are further implying that the unknown species is not D. torosus or D. horneri or at the very least the material is not diagnostic enough to be referred to either of those species.

I would recommend reading: Currie, Trexler, Koppelhus, Wicks and Murphy (2005). "An unusual multi-individual tyrannosaurid bonebed in the Two Medicine Formation (Late Cretaceous, Campanian) of Montana (USA)." P.p. 313-324 in Carpenter, K. (ed.), The Carnivorous Dinosaurs. III. Theropods as living animals.

It will give some good perspectives on Daspletosaurus Sp. and why even decent skull elements, multiple animals, and more may still not be enough to either refer the specimens to a known species or erect a new one.

 

There is most likely at least one new tyrannosauroid in both the Two Medicine and Judith River based on collected material and active fieldwork.

Stating a specimen is different than all other know species requires a great deal of effort.

 

One problem is ontogenetic changes, that is as animals grow they change, this problem is exemplified by the nano debate and so will not go into detail. 

Sexual dimorphism, male vs female, is often discussed but truly taking it into consideration with only a skeleton can be near impossible. It is possible what we consider to be different species are actually males and females of the same one. In humans, we can use hip proportions to determine male vs female from only a skeleton but we have many living examples of males and females and so can easily inform ourselves of what the differences would be. In dinosaurs, we rarely have a large number of individuals and so identifying what may distinguish half of a population is rarely, if ever, possible. B rex is one of the only examples where the sex of a dinosaur is known.

 

Another problem comes with placing specimens stratigraphically, if they overlapped and show minor differences then those could just be due to male vs female or ontogenetic changes but if many million years are in-between then yes those minor differences could mean they represent different species. Stratigraphic placement is not easy and will use D. horneri as an example since I helped with placing the species. The Two Med has many mudstone beds that are similar and often represent the same environment yet when dated, they are several million years apart with different animals existing in each. Trying to trace a bed, follow it, across the formation becomes even more of a challenge since the formation is mostly sandstones and those are harder to date absolutely, to a number, than the mudstones. The sandstones can at least be traced and combining that with absolute dating along with many manhours is what finally places a specimen stratigraphically and in time. Placing D. horneri took nearly 5 years and I suspect there will still need to be refinements made.

Systematics is a complex field made more difficult when there are not living examples of what one is trying to classify.

 

 

Edited February 12, 2020 by CBchiefski
Typo

[dinosaur man]

On 2020-02-12 at 1:47 AM, CBchiefski said:

Howdy @dinosaur man I like what you are doing and hopefully my comments are useful. Since you have several different ongoing threads, this post will cover a few of your other comments as well.
 It would be more informative to then say Daspletosaurus Spp. rather than sp. sadly there is often a lack of clarity, in simple terms Genus Sp. indicates one species which is unknown or cannot be narrowed down past the genus level. Saying Genus Spp. indicates multiple unknown species that are distinct from each other but cannot be narrowed down past the genus level. Be aware, in stating Daspletosaurus Sp. or Spp. you are further implying that the unknown species is not D. torosus or D. horneri or at the very least the material is not diagnostic enough to be referred to either of those species.

I would recommend reading: Currie, Trexler, Koppelhus, Wicks and Murphy (2005). "An unusual multi-individual tyrannosaurid bonebed in the Two Medicine Formation (Late Cretaceous, Campanian) of Montana (USA)." P.p. 313-324 in Carpenter, K. (ed.), The Carnivorous Dinosaurs. III. Theropods as living animals.

It will give some good perspectives on Daspletosaurus Sp. and why even decent skull elements, multiple animals, and more may still not be enough to either refer the specimens to a known species or erect a new one.

 

There is most likely at least one new tyrannosauroid in both the Two Medicine and Judith River based on collected material and active fieldwork.

Stating a specimen is different than all other know species requires a great deal of effort.

 

One problem is ontogenetic changes, that is as animals grow they change, this problem is exemplified by the nano debate and so will not go into detail. 

Sexual dimorphism, male vs female, is often discussed but truly taking it into consideration with only a skeleton can be near impossible. It is possible what we consider to be different species are actually males and females of the same one. In humans, we can use hip proportions to determine male vs female from only a skeleton but we have many living examples of males and females and so can easily inform ourselves of what the differences would be. In dinosaurs, we rarely have a large number of individuals and so identifying what may distinguish half of a population is rarely, if ever, possible. B rex is one of the only examples where the sex of a dinosaur is known.

 

Another problem comes with placing specimens stratigraphically, if they overlapped and show minor differences then those could just be due to male vs female or ontogenetic changes but if many million years are in-between then yes those minor differences could mean they represent different species. Stratigraphic placement is not easy and will use D. horneri as an example since I helped with placing the species. The Two Med has many mudstone beds that are similar and often represent the same environment yet when dated, they are several million years apart with different animals existing in each. Trying to trace a bed, follow it, across the formation becomes even more of a challenge since the formation is mostly sandstones and those are harder to date absolutely, to a number, than the mudstones. The sandstones can at least be traced and combining that with absolute dating along with many manhours is what finally places a specimen stratigraphically and in time. Placing D. horneri took nearly 5 years and I suspect there will still need to be refinements made.

Systematics is a complex field made more difficult when there are not living examples of what one is trying to classify.

 

 

Thank you @CBchiefski!! Yes this is very helpful!!, I will take this into consideration on my future topics!!

 

“if they overlapped and show minor differences then those could just be due to male vs female or ontogenetic changes but if many million years are in-between then yes those minor differences could mean they represent different species.“ 

 

And in time, the Canadian Daspletosaurus sp./spp. does overlap with the Tumbler Ridge specimen, if this matters.